Essays about racial, multiracial, and interracial issuesThe following articles are from Tom Head's Race Relations Blog. You are welcome to send us your suggestions for more articles.California Celebrates Korematsu Day Jan. 30 Fred Korematsu may not be a household name, but like Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez, he's one of the few people of color to have aholiday in his honor. The state of California began celebrating Korematsu Day Jan. 30, 2011. So, who was Korematsu and why is his legacy important? California Celebrates Korematsu Day Jan. 30originally appeared onAbout.com Race Relationson Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 12:58:59. Do Suicides of Asian Soldiers Signal Racism in Military? When President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address on Tuesday, he suggested that race ceases to matter to those who serve in the armed forces."When you put on that uniform, it doesn't matter if you're black or white; Asian or Latino; conservative or liberal; rich or poor; gay or straight,"he said. "When you're marching into battle, you look out for the person next to you, or the mission fails. When you're in the thick of the fight, you rise or fall as one unit, serving one nation, leaving no one behind." But tell that to the families ofPrivate Danny Chenof New York City and Lance Corporal Harry Lew, 21, of Santa Clara, Calif., and you're likely to hear a very different point of view. Both Chen, 19, and Lew committed suicide after fellow soldiers bullied them. White soldiers reportedly taunted Chen repeatedly with racial slurs such as"gook,""chink"and"dragon lady."Chen wrote to family members that,"They ask if I'm from China a few times a day. They also called out my name, 'Chen,' in a goat-like voice sometimes for no reason."Moreover, theNew York Timesreportsthat after Chen neglected to turn a water heater off one night, soldiers dragged him out of bed and threw rocks at him.... Do Suicides of Asian Soldiers Signal Racism in Military?originally appeared onAbout.com Race Relationson Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 04:40:37. East Haven Mayor's Shocking Response to Police Scandal Conspiracy. Excessive Force. Obstruction of justice. These are just some of the crimes federal investigators Tuesday charged members of the East Haven police force in Connecticut with. What's even more shocking about the charges is that they allegedly stem from a pattern of racial profiling and mistreatment of Hispanic immigrants by police. TheNew York Timesreports: "They stopped and detained people, particularly immigrants, without reason...sometimes slapping, hitting or kicking them when they were handcuffed, and once smashing a man's head into a wall. They followed and arrested residents, including a local priest, who tried to document their behavior. They rooted through stores looking for damning security videotapes of how they had treated some of their targets, described by one of them on a police radio as having 'drifted to this country on rafts made of chicken wings.'"... East Haven Mayor's Shocking Response to Police Scandaloriginally appeared onAbout.com Race Relationson Thursday, January26th, 2012 at 17:29:26. "Red Tails" Opens Second at Box Office "We got a black president before we got a black action movie,"saysAaron McGruder, co-writer of the Tuskegee Airmen blockbuster"Red Tails,"which just opened in theaters. Although African Americans have starred in an assortment of action films--from"Independence Day"to"Glory"--"Red Tails"stands out as the rare action film with an all-black cast. Whites have no major roles in the World War II movie about the U.S. military's first black aerial combat team.... "Red Tails" Opens Second at Box Officeoriginally appeared onAbout.com Race Relationson Monday, January 23rd, 2012 at 13:00:19. Getting to Know Martin Luther King Jr. Almost 44 years after his 1968 assassination, theRev. Martin Luther King Jr.is remembered as more of a legend than a man. He's largely recognized for leading the charge to endJim Crowin the United States, but his opposition to the Vietnam War, support of labor unions and view that poor people had rights are largely overlooked. If King were running for office today, he'd likely be labeled an anti-American socialist because of his political beliefs. But because his perspectives on morality, war, poverty and so forth are frequently ignored on the federalholidayin his honor, it's easy to reduce him to being a harmless and saint-like practitioner of nonviolence. On the contrary, King's political agenda made him very dangerous. He not only opposed war and racial segregation... Getting to Know Martin Luther King Jr.originally appeared onAbout.com Race Relationson Sunday, January 15th, 2012 at 18:42:03. Michelle Obama Was Right to Call Out Angry Black Woman Stereotyping The Obamas, a controversial new book byNew York Timesreporter Jodi Kantor, has led the first lady to speak out. In aCBS News interviewwith Gayle King on Wednesday, Michelle Obama responded to Kantor's claims of tension between her and White House staffers by remarking:"I guess it's just more interesting to imagine this conflicted situation here. That's been an image people have tried to paint of me since the day Barack announced, that I'm some kind of angry black woman." While some members of the public take issue with the first lady playing the so-called race card, I have little doubt that certainpolitical attacksshe's faced have shades ofracial prejudice. Consider the2008New Yorkercover illustrationthat featured Mrs. Obama with her hair styled in Afro, wearing army fatigues with a gun slung over her chest as she fist bumped her husband. Barack Obama is depicted in Muslim dress but unlike his wife is not depicted as a militant. Her Afro, gun and clothing on the New Yorker cover link to the black radical movement of the late 1960s and '70s.... Michelle Obama Was Right to Call Out Angry Black Woman Stereotypingoriginally appeared onAbout.com Race Relationson Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 04:29:33. Lakers Now Have Five White-American Players: Most Since the 1970s The players on the Los Angeles Lakers' roster are turning heads this season. That's because for the first time since the 1977-78 season, the championship team has a total of five white-American players,notes ESPN's J.A. Adande.That's right--white-American, not European. Luke Walton, Steve Blake, Jason Kapono, Josh McRoberts and Troy Murphy make up the quintet. While the nation has grown accustomed to seeing white players from Europe and elsewhere on the hardwood, homegrown white players have become an oddity of sorts. That's because the percentage of U.S. born white NBA players has plunged from 25 percent two decades ago to about 12 percent this season, according to ESPN. With three white-American players apiece, the Houston Rockets, Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers also stand out for their number of American-born white players.... Lakers Now Have Five White-American Players: Most Since the 1970soriginally appeared onAbout.com Race Relationson Saturday, January 7th, 2012 at 23:47:25. Should Ron Paul Be Forgiven For Racist Newsletters? Should the African-American community let Ron Paul off the hook for theracist newslettersbearing his name that went out in the 1980s and '90s? National Public Radio commentator Aaron Freeman certainly thinks so. According to Freeman, what Paul said or didn't say (Paul denies writing the newsletters) decades ago doesn't matter. "Even if Ron Paul had written racist stuff in the 80s, it'd be easy to forgive it now because we can see that when it come to racism, everything is getting better,"Freemanstated on the Huffington Postwebsite Friday."Why be mad at somebody today when you know that in a few years they'll probably be your comrade in celebrating the next leap forward for civil rights?"... Should Ron Paul Be Forgiven For Racist Newsletters?originally appeared onAbout.com Race Relationson Saturday, December 31st, 2011 at 18:06:05. Top Race Relations Stories of the Year 2011 What doHerman Cain,Amy ChuaandAlexandra Wallacehave in common? They will all appear on my list of theTop Race Relations Stories of the Year. Cain appears, of course, for being one of the rare African-American Republicans to make ground as a presidential contender. Members of the Tea Party argued that Cain's popularity among that far-right movement proved that racism wasn't an issue for them. During Cain's run for office--ended after several women accused him of sexual harassment and infidelity--he made several controversial comments, including that black voters have been brainwashed to vote Democrat. Some questioned if Cain got a pass when he disparaged blacks simply because he shared their skin color.... Top Race Relations Stories of the Year 2011originally appeared onAbout.com Race Relationson Monday, December 26th, 2011 at 04:45:13. Rihanna, Common and Maya Angelou Caught Up In N-Word Controversies The week's hardly over but already two different controversies related to the N-word have surfaced. Dutch magazineJackiedropped jaws when it published a piece that referred to Barbadian pop starRihanna as the"ultimate n----r b---h."Editor Eva Hoeke, who justannounced her resignationover the controversy, said that this hateful description of Rihanna was supposed to be a joke. I'm curious as to how the coupling of two terms known for disparaging blacks and women is humorous. Hoeke admitted on the magazine'sFacebook pagethat the joke was a bad one, but that's as far as she went. She took little responsibility for what happened, saying that the piece was published without her reading it over beforehand (even though it appeared it in a headline) and that there was"no racist motive behind the choice of words."She chalks the controversy up to a misguided use of slang.... Rihanna, Common and Maya Angelou Caught Up In N-Word Controversiesoriginally appeared onAbout.com Race Relationson Wednesday, December 21st, 2011 at 02:12:45. |
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